Lancaster University graduate could become youngest ever Booker Prize winner

A Lancaster University graduate is in line to be named the youngest ever Booker Prize winner at the age of just 27.

Daisy Johnson’s debut novel, Everything Under, was published in June to critical acclaim and in September made the shortlist for the country’s most prestigious literary award.

It is one of six novels being considered, with the winner of the £50,000 top prize being announced this evening, Tuesday October 16.

She is currently favourite to win with readers after her novel overtook former favourite Richard Powers at the bookies.

Everything Under, a reimagining of Greek myth that tells the story of a difficult mother-daughter relationship in modern Britain, is also the bestselling book on the shortlist, having sold more than 5,200 copies to date.

Daisy studied English and Creative Writing (Grizedale, 2012) before going on to study for an MA in Creative Writing at Oxford.

Everything Under – which was four years in the making – follows on from a collection of short stories, Fen, published last year and winner of the £10,000 Edge Hill Short Story prize.

It brings classical Greek myth to the Oxford waterways, for a tale of a daughter’s search for the mother who abandoned her.